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Winter Storm Hunter Could Vault Erie, Pennsylvania, to a New Snowfall Record

Brian Donegan
Published: January 11, 2018

Snow-fatigued Erie, Pennsylvania, could be clobbered again as Winter Storm Hunter brings a mess of snow and ice to the Great Lakes and interior Northeast late this week.

The northwestern Pennsylvania city has already seen 133 inches of snow – more than 11 feet – through Jan. 10, making it the snowiest city (population of 100,000 or more) in the United States so far this winter.

An average winter only features 100.9 inches, but Erie blew past that before the end of December thanks to an epic lake-effect event that dumped 65.1 inches of snow from Christmas Eve through the morning of Dec. 27. For more on that historic event, scroll to our recap section below.

Erie's snowiest winter on record occurred 17 years ago, during the 2000-01 season, when 149.1 inches piled up at Erie International Airport. That means only 16.1 inches of additional snow will tie the record, and since we haven't yet reached the midpoint of winter, it seems likely a new record will be set in the weeks ahead.

Snowfall records in Erie date back to the 1931-32 winter season, according to the National Weather Service.

Although Winter Storm Hunter is expected to bring several inches of snow to Erie, it likely won't be enough to vault the city to the record, but it certainly won't be far off by the time Hunter exits the region.

Before Hunter arrived, temperatures reached 60 degrees Thursday afternoon, not far from the daily record high of 66 degrees set in 1890.

Recap: Christmas Week Historic Lake-Effect Snow

From Christmas Eve through the morning of Dec. 27, Erie's snow total was an astounding 65.1 inches. A stationary lake-effect snow band off Lake Erie dumped 34 inches of snow at Erie International Airport on Christmas Day alone, with an additional 26.5 inches on Dec. 26.

That's not a misprint. Erie picked up more snow in less than 36 hours in this event than its previous 13-daysnowstorm record.

Needless to say, the 121.3 inches of snow in December was the city's snowiest single month on record, clobbering the previous record of 66.9 inches in December 1989 by over 4 feet.

That's also more snow in one month than Erie averages in an entire winter season – 100.9 inches.

What's more, this was also the snowiest month on record anywhere in Pennsylvania, according to the Pennsylvania state climatologist. The previous record was 113 inches in February 2010 at Laurel Summit in Somerset County.

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